


I would have died of shame if you hadn't laughed in my face

by K___Kelly



Series: I would... [4]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Keyleth-centric (Critical Role), Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:41:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21746950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/K___Kelly/pseuds/K___Kelly
Summary: Keyleth accidentally becomes a petty thief
Relationships: Keyleth/Vax'ildan (Critical Role)
Series: I would... [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1539013
Comments: 1
Kudos: 37





	I would have died of shame if you hadn't laughed in my face

Vox Machina walks into the tiny shop, sans Pike who is helping Allura back in Whitestone, looking to restock on some healing potions but not expecting much from it. Afterall, it’s certainly not Gilmore’s Glorious Goods, but it is a nice little shop. Quaint and cozy, Jancey’s Dimming Trove. The tiefling girl who seems to run the shop is much nicer than Sherry has ever been, but she seems quite young to be running a shop by herself. Keyleth wonders if the shop is owned by her parents or maybe an older sibling? The mystery is somewhat complicated when the girl introduces herself as Carine not Jancey…

“Oh hi there, nice to meet you, I'm Keyleth, you're shop is very lovely also do you know where Jancey is? Can we meet her? You know since the sign says "Jancey's Dimming trove" I assume she’s the shop owner and we, umm Vox Machina that's us are really close friends with a shopkeeper, Gilmore, of Gilmore’s Glorious Goods, maybe you’ve heard of him? Anyway maybe your shops could share resources or something? He’s still trying to get back on his feet after the dragon attack…”. She almost bites her tongue off seconds before she feels Vex’s elbow dig between her ribs.

Shoots, she hadn’t realized that the girl was getting increasingly uncomfortable and now she is staring at her feet with tears forming in her silvery eyes. “S-She isn’t here right now c-can I help you with anything?” Her voice is trembling openly, and she is clearly struggling to lift her chin high enough to make eye contact with any of them.

Vex tries to interrupt, but Keyleth cuts her off. “Yes! We’re actually looking for some potions uh healing potions tons of them as many as you have and we’d like to see your stock of magical items…all of them…I definitely want to buy some of them probably most of them since you know I am _very_ low on my supply…”. Vex’s eyes are widening at an alarming rate, but Keyleth is too intent on trying to make amends for her initial blunder to even take notice. The girl starts bringing out items slowly for Keyleth to examine and she does. She takes each one in hand and looks it over slowly and carefully. Kindly but clumsily praising the details and handiwork as much as possible. Every time the girl ticks off a price Vax sees a muscle twitch in Vex’s face especially when Keyleth starts pulling out bags of gold and purposefully offering far more than what any of the items are worth. Since it’s all coming from her own purse she doesn’t see the issue, but Vax can see that Vex is about to lose it and Grog is starting to look more and more restless. The big guy isn’t usually too keen on shopping. Right now, Keyleth is examining two identical scrying orbs which each only have one charge and that they most _definitely_ do not need. 

Vex finally moves to intervene, but Vax steps in before she can. “Hey Kiki, can I speak with you a moment?” He tries to grab her hand, but she’s still holding an orb in each hand and now there’s an oddly shaped lantern hanging off her fingers as well. He sets the lantern down on the counter and gently tugs her aside.

“Vax careful! You’re going to make me drop it!” She slips the orb into a side pouch and looks at him, he’s shaking his head at her trying not to laugh.

He grabs her hand taking a second to compose himself. “Look Keeks I know you’re trying to fix this…”

She pulls away from him. “I didn’t mean to come off as insensitive! It just came out like that and I kept going and then I felt so bad and now I absolutely have to fix it, just leave me here I’ll catch up or…”

“Yeah that’s not gonna work none of us except you can make tree portals and I am positive that vein in Vex’s forehead is going to pop if we spend one more second here. Look, I promise we’ll compensate Carine for her troubles and if you want we can come back when we have more time on our hands, how’s that?”

Her face crumples and gods be damned that's not what he meant to happen at all.

“Vax that's just not good enough! They killed them Vax! Her mother, her sister or whoever Jancey was, those monsters killed her! And I…I just brought it up casually like that and…and I just thought if I did this…I really want her to know that people care and that she isn’t alone and she just seems so sweet and oh gods Vax, did you see her eyes? They were so sad, and they still are I just want to make that go away and…” She trails off uncertainly.

He squeezes her hand reassuringly. “It’s alright I’m listening.”

“...And if…if I can’t fix my own mistakes how will I ever fix anyone else’s? Isn’t that what a leader is supposed to do?” He sighs deeply, she purposefully avoids his gaze but he can hear her feet shuffling nervously on the rough wooden floor.

“I don’t really have a lot of experience but I’m fairly certain that’s not how leadership is supposed to work and I know…I know this isn’t what you want to hear right now love, but you can’t take everything onto your shoulders like this, in the end its gonna do more harm than help."

She worries her lower lip, nodding slowly still clearly upset. He pulls her in for a hug that she reluctantly melts into. “I’m sorry, we really do need to wrap this up, but we can come back once we’re done fighting dragons. Also Kiki, I really don’t think she’s mad at you honest.”She crosses her arms and squints, clearly not believing him. “I mean at the very least Carine probably isn’t mad, but Vex on the other hand, Vex is _definitely_ mad at you…”

“Vax!” Her little burst of half-hearted frustration is muffled against his chest as he pulls her into another hug. 

“What? I’m just telling the truth! You think I don’t know when my sister is mad? I can feel it from here, the air gets a little colder and I can practically feel the icy breeze even from across the room.” Vax shivers dramatically still pressed up against her, she pulls away and looks up at him wrinkling her nose and giggling slightly.

“That’s super weird just so you know.” 

He bumps her hip playfully, her smile stays. From across the room they both hear. “You know I can fucking hear you two!”

They look at each other and burst into ridiculous giggles. Vax slings one arm around Keyleth’s waist ignoring his sister's grumbling as he sets down a hefty pouch of his own gold in exchange for a handful of Greater Healing Potions. He waves off the girl’s incredulous thanks and quietly pockets Keyleth’s proffered gold in the same swift motion. “Thanks Carine, we’ll most likely be back at some point but we hope you have a lovely rest of your day.”

Keyleth nods and immediately stops giggling. “Also, if you ever need assistance just have someone get into contact with Vox Machina we shouldn’t be too hard to find.”

Only Vax hears Vex muttering under her breath. “So long as we’re not in the middle of fighting a dragon or saving the world or anything important...”

The tiefling girl responds to Keyleth's offer smiling brightly if not a little forced. “I-I’ll keep that in mind.”

Vex and the rest of the party acknowledge her courteously and Grog helps rearrange some of the larger magic items that Keyleth had been trying to purchase. “Bidet to you.”

She looks slightly confused at the unusual farewell, but for a moment her smile seems a bit more genuine. 

A few hours later they find a proper tree and teleport via plants back to Whitestone to drop off and restock more supplies before venturing onto the next leg of their quest. Seconds after their return Grog and Scanlan disappear to take another crack at the De Rolo wine cellar. Vex holes up in Percy's workshop hunched over a book of accounts side by side with Percy while he tinkers away with ore and black powder. Keyleth slips away to the baths and Vax is finally sitting down to give his weapons and armor a proper cleaning for the first in weeks. Just as he finishes cleaning the muck out of his beloved Boots of Haste he hears a horrified shriek tear through Whitestone castle. It sounds like it’s coming from the eastern wing, but he reaches up to his earring to confirm. “Hello, is everyone alright what’s going on I just heard someone scream?” Vex and Percy respond saying they’re fine followed by questions about the screaming, he hears Scanlan say he heard it too and he just hears Grog asking questions in his typical manner of absent-minded confusion. The only voice he doesn’t hear is Keyleth, but he does hear a soft muffled sob. “Kiki what’s happened? Are you alright? Please answer, you’re worrying me.”

A soft tearful voice responds. “I’m f-fine I’m not hurt or anything like that…”

“You don’t sound alright listen I’m right outside the baths do you want me to come in or...” He gets his response in the form of Keyleth emerging from the steamy room with her shirt half on, tears pouring down her face. It's unclear if she’s red-faced from crying or from the heat but the round tip of her slightly upturned snub nose is redder than a Goodberry. He takes in all of her appearance first, checking for potential injuries and such, before he notices the object that she is cupping in both hands and mournfully holding out towards him. He stares at it in genuine confusion. “Wha-What?”

Sobs wrack her thin sloping shoulders, hiccups spacing out each syllable. “I-I-I S-S-STOLE IT”

He takes a closer look at the object and sure enough Keyleth is holding one of the scrying spheres from the magic shop they had stopped by this morning. He vaguely remembers seeing her slip it into the pouch at her hip when he had pulled her aside and evidently she had forgotten to put it back. He looks at the cloudy globe of glass hardly bigger than two fists; even his untrained eye can tell that it is not very well made. More of an ornament than a magic item. He glances between Keyleth who is still shaking and the pilfered object that has reduced her to tears.

She is staring at the ground too upset and too ashamed to meet his eyes. She doesn’t look up until she hears a harsh choking sound. When she gathers herself enough to glance upward she sees Vax with his hand clapped against his mouth, doubled over, shaking, eyes dancing mischievously even as he tries to hide his mirth. “A-Are you laughing at me?” The shock temporarily stops her flood of tears.

“No-Never-At-You-Just “ He is gasping for breath, still bent over both hands on both knees trying desperately to stifle his laughter. Keyleth’s face has been getting redder by the second and now a bit of annoyance is mixed with her initial distress. Vax plops down right there on the ground and reaches to pull Keyleth down with him. “Come here Kiki.” He gently tugs her wrist and neatly catches the troublesome silvery ball before it has a chance to shatter on the marble floor. Setting it down beside them he finally swallows his laughter enough to speak more coherently. “I’m so sorry love, I didn’t mean to upset you more.” He looks at her kneeling in front of him still red-faced, tears still slowly trickling. Red strands of hair were caught in the downpour he pushes them aside and leans his forehead against hers. “You’re so good, Keyleth a bit ridiculous on occasion…”

She bristles slightly.

“But so genuinely good, honestly I don’t know how you ended up with a bunch of fuck-ups like us but everyday I’m unbelievably grateful that you stayed, that you didn’t take one look at this group of crazies and tree stride or mist walk as fast as you could in the opposite direction.”

“I hadn’t even learned those spells back when I met you.” She mumbles and he chuckles gently in response. 

“You know what I mean, you keep us pointed in the right direction even when we’re hellbent on destruction. Look at me Keyleth.” Slowly she lifts her chin to meet his loving gaze. “I’ve stolen a lifetime of things worth ten times more than that bauble ever could be.”

“But you had too! You and Vex were homeless and starving I was just being careless and thoughtless and…”

He shakes his head. “Stop it, stop blaming yourself, if it’s anyone’s fault it would be mine for rushing you out of there.”

“That wasn’t your fault I was delaying us.”

He cuts off her attempt to protest. “You were trying to help, we all know that and no one in Exandria would hold any of this against you Kiki, your little theft was clearly an accident and a pretty hilarious one in my opinion.”

“Va-ax! It’s not funny!”

“I know, I know, but seriously, I know this is a big deal to you and I respect that, I really do and I promise I’ll come with you if you still want to go back and return it…

“Of course, I want to return it!”

“But hang on, just think about it…That gold I gave her was more than twice the value of the potions we bought so we could just call it even and keep it for emergencies. Or maybe if you let Vex hold onto it she’ll quit fussing over the account books like a regular old miser.” He says it lovingly if not with a hint of exasperation.

“Alright, alright, I really don’t want it to cause anymore problems, so I guess that would be fine since we did overpay for the potions…". She sounds so pained saying it that he grabs the sphere tossing it lightly into the air once and gently bops it against her nose trying to coax out a smile. 

“You gotta stop making the rest of us look bad Keeks.” She half smiles, he kisses her nose and helps her to her feet. “And let me know if you ever want to share your technique because holy fuck, you managed to slip that bloody orb past the shopkeeper, me, and even my sister. Are you sure you’re a druid and not a roguish?” She bats his shoulder playfully and he kisses her full on until her skin is warm under his touch. “Go have your bath, I’ll take care of the contraband”. 


End file.
